Brasses

Cambridge:
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS

With the exception of the coat-of-arms at the foot, the design on the cover is a reproduction of one used by the earliest known Cambridge printer, John Siberch, 1521

	Preface	v
I.	Edward I and II. 1272-1327	1
II.	Edward III and Richard II. 1328-99	9
III.	Lancastrian Period. 1400-53	14
IV.	The Yorkist Period. 1453-85	24
V.	Medieval Clergy	31
VI.	The Monasteries	43
VII.	The Early Tudors. 1485-1547	52
VIII.	Edward VI and Mary. Transitional Period	60
IX.	Elizabeth and James I. 1558-1625	62
X.	The Caroline Brasses. 1625-60	70
XI.	The Last Brasses. 1660-1773	75
XII.	Special Types	76
XIII.	Foreign Brasses	83
XIV.	Architectural Details	87
XV.	Conclusion	99
	Appendix	112
	Bibliography	148
	Index	149

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There now begins to be evident a slight deterioration; careless and poor work is found side by side with some of the very finest. In part this is because so many different classes were now adopting this type of monument.

About 500 brasses belong to this period, including clergy and laity.

The armed figures may be conveniently divided into three groups, and it will be found that their wives naturally fall into similar divisions.

The first is practically the same as that of the later Plantagenets and still retains the camail. (See list (I).)

Sir Wm. Bagot and his wife wear the collar of S. S. This collar was conferred by Henry IV and the other Lancastrians on their friends. It is found on many brasses during this period and is worn by ladies as well as knights. We may appropriately refer here to the Order of the Garter. Unfortunately there are not many instances of its being shown on brasses, only six or seven being known. (See Appendix.)

Our illustration of Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, not only shows the style of armour, but also that the armorial charges on his jupon and on his wife’s mantle are wrought with a beautiful diaper work. This way of depicting arms (by lightly engraving the surface with dots, instead of lines) is unique.

The ladies in this division, like their husbands, wear practically the same costume as before. But at the same time other brasses were being laid down showing that changes were taking place. The jupon was abandoned, and the plain cuirass shown. This has a skirt of hoops, known as taces. These cover the mail shirt, which gradually disappears. The camail is likewise covered by a gorget of steel and later abandoned. The bascinet becomes globular.

An interesting example of the transitional period is the brass of Sir Thos. Swynborne and his father at Little Horkesley in Essex. The father, Sir Robert (died 1391), is shown in the armour of that date, while his son shows the armour of 1412.

Later, roundels are placed at the elbow and in front of the armpits. (See list (II).)

The illustration of Sir Simon Felbrigge is of special interest. He holds the Royal Standard in his right hand charged with the arms of Edward the Confessor impaling France and England. He was the Royal Standard bearer during Richard II’s reign, yet was made K.G. by Henry V. He did not die till 1443, but probably prepared his tomb in 1416. The palettes at his armpits are charged with the cross of St George, and he wears the Garter. Additional plates are placed on the shoulders and cuirass. More changes now occur, the left side begins to be more fully protected than the right, since the extra weight would have prevented free action. Tuilles or plates are strapped to the lowest tace, and other slight changes become noticeable.

For examples of these changes see list (III) in the Appendix.

Sir Christopher Baynham (c. 1448) at Newland, Gloucester, has a most curious crest—a miner with a candle in his mouth, a bag on his back and a pickaxe in his hand. The brass is unfortunately rather mutilated.

In the last section (section (iv)) the helmet is discarded and the hair is close-cropped. The skirt of taces is very long, having often ten hoops; tuilles are not used. Pauldrons are worn on the shoulders.

The ladies do not vary in costume so much. The mantle is often omitted and a high-waisted gown with long sleeves and turned-down collar worn. The hair is gathered into a net and a kerchief draped over the top.

Examples may be found at Routh, Yorks., c. 1410; East Markham, Notts., 1419; Digswell, Herts., 1415; Horley, Surrey (canopy), c. 1420.

From 1420-1450 we find the plain kirtle and mantle (occasionally the sideless cote-hardi, as at Trotton) and the horned or mitred head-dress. This means that the hair, enclosed in a net, is raised above the head in the design indicated and then draped with a kerchief. Most of the ladies depicted with their husbands follow this arrangement.

Examples alone, at Hever, Kent, 1419; Lingfield, Surrey, 1420; Cobham, Kent, 1433, etc.

The civilians are of great importance during this period, and two groups demand special attention, the Woolmen and the Judges. Wm. Grevel and wife, Chipping Campden, Glos., 1401 (woolman) may be taken as an example of the earlier type. He wears a long gown buttoned right down the front, a belt with an anlace, and mantle opening at the right shoulder. His wife has no mantle and wears a similar dress to that of the Plantagenet period. The magnificent double canopy has a central column, a rare feature.

This type of dress, with slight variations, continued for the whole of the Lancastrian period. Towards its close, however, certain changes became more and more common. Mantle and hood are seldom seen, except as a sign of municipal office. The dress becomes shorter, reaching only a little below the knees, the hair is cropped and there is no beard. Nicholas Canteys, St John’s, Margate, 1431, is an exception, having a long beard.

The brasses of the woolmen are the finest, as they were the richest. Their feet often rest upon woolpacks or lambs.

In many brasses, merchants’ marks on shields will be found, as in Grevel’s. At Fletching, Sussex, there is a curious brass to Peter Denot, glover, 1450. It consists of a pair of gloves and an inscription.

The fine series of woolmen’s brasses at Northleach are specially noticeable, and Gloucestershire takes the lead throughout England, Lincolnshire coming next.

We cannot leave the subject of the civilians without referring to the legal profession. The judges are by far the most important. (See Appendix.)

John Cottusmore and his wife (1439) have two brasses; the first large, with a fine canopy on the floor, the second small, on the wall, showing them kneeling.

The costume consists of a gown reaching to the feet, with close sleeves. A fur tippet, a mantle lined with minever, a hood and a close cap or coif.

Sir John Cassy, chief baron of the Exchequer (1400), has a magnificent brass at Deerhurst. He shows most of these features but the tippet, which is concealed. The fine double canopy no longer has the figure of St John the Baptist, which was still there when the rubbing was taken. The other figure is of St Anne and the Virgin as a child. The inscription, as is often the case in Gloucestershire, is in raised letters with curious leaves, and a dragon separating the words, but the lower part is here omitted. The dog beneath Lady Cassy’s feet was evidently meant to represent an old pet. It has a collar of bells round its neck and its name, Terri, underneath. This is the only named pet now extant, but a “Jakke” existed formerly at Ingham, Norfolk, on the brass of Sir Bryan de Stapleton, 1438. It was sold as old metal in 1800.

Three Serjeants-at-law belong to this period: John Rede, Checkendon, Oxon. (triple canopy), 1404, Nich. Roland and wife, Cople, Beds., c. 1410, and Thos. Rolf, Gosfield, Essex, 1439.

Thomas Rolf has the most characteristic dress, consisting of a cassock and academical tabard, a tippet, hood with two bands and a coif.

These include most types of civilian brasses, but there are numerous variations, and therein lies the interest of the subject.

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During the Wars of the Roses, England was practically isolated from the Continent. It is therefore not surprising that this period has a character of its own.

There are about 350 brasses, and these include an entirely distinct type of armour and a characteristic female head-dress.

There are not many really fine brasses, canopies are few and heavy in design, and the engraving is poor. The proportions are often bad. In particular the head is often made too big or too small.

The great characteristic of the armour of this period is the addition of extra pieces of huge size and curious shape. Yet all were the outcome of the exigencies of the time. So too were the ridges and flutings which were meant to deflect the point of a weapon. The armour was also decorated with punching, engraving, etc.

During the wars in France, the knights had often dismounted and fought on foot. During the Wars of the Roses, they usually charged on horseback. This explains why the heavier armour is on the upper part of the body, while the lower is more lightly protected.

Often the upper half therefore seems out of proportion.

Usually the head is bare, but occasionally the “sallad” or shell helmet is found, as at Castle Donington, Cirencester, Addington, Sprotborough and elsewhere. Among other peculiarities, a hooked lance-rest is often screwed to the right side of the cuirass, as at Hildersham. The elbow-pieces often attain to an enormous size. The tuilles have been re-introduced. The shoes are long and pointed, the sword slung in front.

The illustration of Sir Wm. and Lady Vernon, Tong, Salop, 1467, betrays one of the signs of deterioration: the head rests on the helmet with crest, yet the figure stands on a field of grass. His wife wears kirtle, sideless cote-hardi, mantle, veil and the widow’s wimple. Her feet rest against an extraordinary dragon. This is probably in allusion to her name and patron saint, Margaret, whose emblem was a dragon.

In the Morley brass (1470) the knight rests his head on his helmet and stands on grass and flowers. The two wives wear the mitre head-dress and there are three saints above. These are St Christopher, St Anne and the Virgin, and St Mary and Child.

During this period, armorial tabards and heraldic kirtles and mantles became common.

The earliest tabard is at Amberley, Sussex, 1424.

Examples during the Yorkist period are found as follows: Wm. Stapilton and wife, Edenhall, Cumberland, 1458; Hen. Grene and wife, Lowick, Northants., 1467; Sir Jn. Say and wife, Broxbourne, Herts., 1473; Sir Thos. Sellynger and wife, St George’s Chapel, Windsor, 1475; Philip Mede and two wives, St Mary, Redcliff, Bristol, 1475.

The Yorkist collar of stars and roses takes the place of the S.S. It is found at Broxbourne, St Albans, Little Easton, 1483, and elsewhere.

The horned head-dress of the ladies changes to the mitred, as at Thornton and Morley. The memorial of Ly. Joyce Tiptoft, Enfield, Middlesex, c. 1470, is one of the few really fine brasses of the period and shows the dress and armorial bearings well. The canopy is fine, possibly copied from that of the Duchess of Gloucester (1399) in Westminster Abbey. The arrangement of shields hung from the shafts of the canopy is only one of several similar features. The head is far too large, as is often the case at this date, and spoils the general effect. Her jewelled necklace should be noticed (page 57).

The butterfly head-dress begins to replace the mitred head-dress, hitherto in vogue. A veil of gauze was extended over wires. In real life it was doubtless light and beautiful, but in brass it looks heavy and ungainly. The wife of Sir Thos. Urswyk, Dagenham, Essex, shows this type of coiffure. She also wears a low-necked gown, showing the upper part of the corsage. Her cuffs and necklace are characteristic, and her somewhat awkward poise is typical of the period. Her daughters are of special interest. The head-dresses of the six younger are formed by conical nets of several designs, their long hair hanging down behind. These examples are unique. The eldest daughter is a nun, and the other two resemble their mother, but wear no mantle. The sons wore the ordinary civilian costume of the time, but have quite recently been stolen.

Widows still wear the wimple, and maidens have long, flowing hair.

There is but little variety in the dress of civilians. The anlace becomes rare and its place is often taken by a rosary. The hair is close-cropped, and the figures usually small. Mantles are only worn as a sign of office.

The Woolmen and the Lawyers represent the best work to be seen at this epoch. Of the latter, Sir Thos. Urswyk, 1479, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, already mentioned, will serve as an example. He is bare-headed, and the fur lining of his mantle is visible, as is his rosary. His sons display the usual costume of the day without the mantle.

Notaries wear a plain gown with pencase and inkhorn hanging from the belt. A scarf and a cap are fastened on the left shoulder. (Appendix.)

We have now come to the close of the Middle Ages. The signs of deterioration of this, as of other medieval arts, are apparent.

The question may be asked—In what language and type were the inscriptions engraved? Briefly, the earlier (in Norman French) are engraved in separated Lombardic letters which were inserted round the edge of the slab. This gave place to a border fillet. This fillet soon began to be engraved in Gothic characters. In the fifteenth century Latin became the usual language—from the beginning it had been used for ecclesiastics. It never entirely fell out of use, but towards the end of the fifteenth century English began to appear. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the latter takes the place of Latin to a large extent. Roman characters replaced Gothic in the seventeenth century.

The arbitrary contractions of words employed by the engravers from the earliest to the latest periods render the deciphering of a large proportion of the inscriptions no easy task.

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Deacons.

There is no complete brass to a deacon now extant, and there exists but one solitary mutilated example at Burwell, Cambridge, on the reverse of part of the brass of John Lawrence, Abbot of Ramsey.

The dalmatic was their distinguishing vestment. It was shorter than an alb, slit up on either side for a short distance and had a straight edge before and behind. The left side and lower edge were fringed for a deacon, both sides when worn by a bishop.

When St Stephen, St Philip or St Lawrence appear in canopies, they wear this vestment.

The tunicle was worn by sub-deacons. It is similar to the dalmatic, but of linen, whereas the latter was usually of silk and often richly decorated.

Mass Vestments.

The most numerous brasses to the clergy are to the incumbents of our country churches, and these are usually depicted in mass vestments. The average country parson was, as now, a man of modest means, and so it is not surprising that these brasses as a rule are small, and very few have canopies or even marginal inscriptions. There is but little development in any of the vestments, as these had become fixed in their main features many centuries earlier.

The chief characteristic change is that the hair of early ecclesiastics is long and curly and tends to become less so, till by Tudor times it is absolutely straight. In fourteenth century brasses the material of the vestments seems to be thin and fits closely to the body, whereas later it is stiff and heavy.

The fylfot cross is found on the vestments of many priests, as at Kemsing, Kent, c. 1320, and in the brass of Rich. de Hakebourne, Merton College, Oxford, 1310. This ancient symbol, known in the Sanscrit as the swastika, is found on Buddhist inscriptions in India and China, on Greek vases and Roman pavements (as at Brading, I.o.W.) and on Runic inscriptions and elsewhere. On brasses it is mainly found upon those of the fourteenth century.

We will consider in detail the monument of Lawrence de St Maur, 1337; at Higham Ferrers, which must serve for all the others (see frontispiece). It is by far the finest, and, indeed, there are only four or five others with canopies at all, and hardly a dozen have effigies over three feet long. The central panel of the canopy contains God the Father, the soul and two angels, St Peter and St Paul, St Andrew and St Thomas. At the four corners are the Evangelists. Then, St Gabriel opposite (perhaps) St Mary; St John Baptist opposite (perhaps) the Magdalene; St Stephen opposite (perhaps) St Lawrence; the Abbot St Maur opposite St Christopher, whose bare feet can be seen standing in a river. Beneath the priest’s feet are two dogs quarrelling over a bone.

The total length of the brass is 8 ft. 3 inches, and breadth 3 ft. 5 inches.

The figure wears an alb with apparels at the foot and on each arm. In the earliest brasses these pieces of embroidery went right round the wrists, but they were soon reduced to simple squares. The amice encircles the neck and is like a handkerchief with a strip of embroidery along one side. As worn it looks like a collar. The stole was crossed over the breast and held in place by the girdle of the alb. Usually, as here, only the ends can be seen. At Sudborough, Northants., 1415, at Horsham, Sussex, c. 1430, and at Upwell, Norfolk, 1435, it can be seen in entirety. Over the left arm hangs the maniple, a strip of embroidery, similar to a stole. Over all he wears a fine chasuble. In this case there is a narrow band of embroidery round the edge, but this is unusual. The ordinary type is perfectly plain. In the sixteenth century a central pillar of embroidery or orphrey is common. It is also found on the chasubles of bishops and abbots at an earlier date. Occasionally, the whole ground was covered with a pattern.

It will be noticed that many priests are represented holding chalices. There is quite a considerable group of brasses consisting of chalices only. They all commemorate priests. The selected list in the Appendix will be useful to those who wish to study them more closely. It was customary to bury pewter chalices with priests who were interred in their mass vestments. The author himself has one of these coffin chalices. It was probably from this custom that the idea originated of making chalice brasses. The earliest are in Yorkshire; there are many in Norfolk, but few outside these counties.

Robt. Wodehowse’s brass at Holwell, Beds., 1515, has as a rebus two wode-howses, or wild men, with clubs, on either side of the chalice.

There is a peculiar brass at Winwick, Lancashire, to Sir Peter Legh, 1527. On the death of his wife, he gave up his calling as a knight and became a priest.

He is bare-headed and has a tonsure. Over his armour he wears a chasuble, and between his hands is a coat-of-arms.

CHOIR AND PROCESSIONAL VESTMENTS

The Almuce.

Except when at Mass, the usual vestments worn were cassock and surplice, almuce, hood and cope.

The cassock was the ordinary walking dress of the clergy. In a few cases it is shown alone. (Appendix.)

The almuce was a large cape turned down over the shoulders and lined with fur. D.D.’s and canons wore one lined with grey fur, and the former had the outside cloth scarlet.

All others wore dark-brown fur. The tails of the animals were sewn round the edge and two long lappets hung down in front. The fur lining is the only part shown in brasses, and this is usually represented by cutting away the metal and filling up the surface with lead or coloured earths. Of these there are a fair number. (Appendix.)

The Cope.

More usually the cope accompanies the almuce. Over a hundred brasses of coped priests remain. Many are both large and fine, with canopies. They usually commemorate Church dignitaries.

The cope was a beautiful and costly vestment, shaped like a cloak, and was fastened across the breast by the morse. Orphreys adorned the straight edges. The general surface was usually plain, though occasionally covered by a pattern, as in the case of Robt. Langton, Queen’s College, Oxford, 1518, and John White, Winchester College, Hants., c. 1548. This is generally a sign of late work. A small, semicircular hood attached to the back of the cope was usually hidden by the upper part of the almuce, the lappets of which are also visible beyond the long sleeves of the surplice.

The two following are among the finest extant:

John Sleford, Balsham, Cambs., 1401, was Rector of Balsham, Master of the Wardrobe to Edward III, Chaplain to Queen Philippa, Canon of Wells and later of Ripon, Archdeacon of Wells, etc. The whole composition measures 8½ ft. × 4½ ft., and the figure is 5 ft. 2 in. long. The triple canopy supports a shrine which is divided in half. The lower portion shows the soul of the deceased supported in a sheet by two angels. He is being borne up to the Holy Trinity, who are represented in the upper story. Two seraphim are poised on the finials of the two side arches.

The shields are: dexter, quarterly Old France and England; sinister, the same impaling Hainault. The arms of the See of Ely (three crowns) are shown on the third shield, and the fourth is lost.

Down the orphreys of the cope are depicted five pairs of saints under embattled canopies: St Mary and St John Baptist; St John the Evangelist and St Etheldreda; St Catherine and St Peter; St Paul and St Margaret; St Mary Magdalene and St Wilfred. The sacred monogram I. S. is shown on the morse and also on two roundels.

The other brass is equally fine and measures 8 ft. 9 in. × 4 ft. 1 in.

John Blodwell was Dean of St Asaph, Prebend of Lichfield and of Hereford, Canon of St David’s and Rector of Balsham. His canopy is of a different type to Sleford’s. It has a single arch resting on broad shafts, in each of which are four niches with saints. The cope has saints down the orphreys which are rather worn. The whole surface is adorned with lions’ heads. The inscription is in a dialogue between Blodwell and his guardian angel. The Dean’s words are in relief.

The alb and amice are substituted for surplice and almuce at Horsham, 1411, Upwell, 1428 and 1435, Beeford, Yorks., 1472, Hitchin, 1498, and Rauceby, 1536.

Canons of Windsor, instead of a cope, wore the mantle of the Order of the Garter. It has a small cross on the left shoulder and is found on the brasses of Roger Parker (headless demi), Northstroke, Oxon., 1370; Unknown, Bennington, Herts, (mutilated, an ordinary cope with badge on shoulder), c. 1450; Roger Lupton, Eton College, 1540; Arthur Cole, Magdalen College, Oxford, 1558.

Academic Dress.

There are a considerable number of brasses showing the academic dress, in all 75 to 80.

About one-third are at Oxford and Cambridge, and the rest are widely scattered. The distinction between the various degrees being usually made by the colour and material rather than by the shape renders the task of differentiating difficult.

The academic tabard without sleeves, the cape or tippet, and the hood are usually worn over a cassock, as on the brasses of Thos. Mason, M.A., of Magdalen, Oxford, 1501, and of John London, M.A., S.T.P., of New College, Oxford, 1508. Sometimes the academic tabard has short sleeves.

The taberdium talare is longer and probably implies a B.D., though it is worn by others who had not this degree. Good examples are to be seen on the brasses of John Bloxham, B.D., Merton College, Oxford, c. 1420 (with John Whytton on bracket) (see Chap. XIV), and of Wm. Blakwey, Little Wilbraham, Cambs (kn.), 1521.

D.D.’s have the cappa clausa. This is a plain, sleeveless gown, and the arms appear through a single opening, which only reaches to the waist. The tippet is usually of fur, and a cap is worn. The latter is either a skull cap or raised one or two inches and brought to a low point in the centre. The first type is shown in the brass of Dr Billingford, St Bene’t’s, Cambridge, 1432; the second in the brass of Dr Towne, at King’s College, Cambridge, 1496.

Doctors of other faculties wear the cap and pallium, a long gown similar to the taberdium talare. It must not be confounded with the pallium of an archbishop. Many academic persons wear the cope or almuce, sometimes with the doctor’s cap. There are a few academic brasses of Elizabethan and Jacobean date. They usually show the long, civilian gown of the period. From it has developed the present University gown, which has not sprung from the ancient tabard.

Bishops.

Bishops and Mitred Abbots wore the mass vestments of the priests with certain additions. The tunicle and dalmatic were worn below the chasuble. The former is often of the same length as the dalmatic and so cannot be seen. Sandals adorned with jewels and gloves similarly ornamented were usually worn. The episcopal ring had a single precious stone.

The mitre and crozier are perhaps the most characteristic vestments. The earliest mitres were low with plain edges; they gradually became higher and crockets were added to the sides of the horns. In brasses the extreme height to which they developed is not shown. They were made of plain linen, of embroidered linen and of precious metals. Two narrow strips of silk called “infulae” hung down from the back of the mitre. These can be seen in the brasses at York and East Horsley.

The crozier and pastoral staff are the same, the cross staff of the archbishop is not really a crozier at all. The latter represents the shepherd’s crook. A scarf was often fastened to the knob below the crook. It was called either an “infula”—like the ribbons of a mitre—or “vexillum.” The latter name refers to the Cross banner of Constantine.

Croziers and mitres are depicted long after vestments had fallen into disuse. The last crozier, 1631, is at Chigwell, Essex. Mitres are found even later, but are probably used as a crest.

Archbishops generally hold the cross staff instead of a crozier and wear the pall. It was simply a narrow loop of white lamb’s wool placed round the neck and with a weighted band hanging down before and behind.

Thos. Cranley, 1417, clearly shows all the vestments; his cross, as was often the case, was a crucifix. The triple canopy with super-canopy is exceptionally fine, though somewhat mutilated.

The crozier, or cross, is usually held in the left hand. The mitred abbots wore exactly similar robes.

Bishop Wyvil of Salisbury, in three-quarter length, 1375, is shown within a battlemented castle with his champion standing under the gate beneath. This commemorates his recovery of Sherborne Castle for his See.

The Edenham brass (c. 1500) was formerly in a panel on the outer face of the church tower, 40 feet from the ground. It is now inside the church. Probably it represents St Thomas à Becket, the patron saint of the donor of the tower.

Bishop Goodryke of Ely, 1554, wrote “My duty towards my neighbour,” and holds the prayer book in his hand. He also holds the Great Seal, as he was formerly Lord Chancellor. Both he and Bishop Bell died during the reign of Mary, which might be considered sufficient explanation of their wearing vestments. Bishop Pursglove, however, whose brass is at Tideswell, died in the middle of Elizabeth’s reign.

The fact is that vestments only gradually fell into disuse. They were undoubtedly worn by some of the clergy right into the seventeenth century.

The figure of John Bell at St James’s, Clerkenwell, the lower part of which is lost, was sold in 1788 when the old church was pulled down. It passed into the collection of Mr J. B. Nichols and on his death was replaced in the new church.

The vestments in which the king is crowned are largely of an ecclesiastical nature. They include the dalmatic, the surcoat, the belt, the stole and a surplice without sleeves. On monuments, kings are shown wearing a long tunic with close sleeves, a cloak, or cope, and a tippet of ermine. The only brass is a demi-figure, c. 1440, at Wimborne Minster, Dorset, laid down in memory of King Ethelred, martyred 872 A.D. He is crowned and holds a sceptre.

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The influence of the monasteries during the Middle Ages was considerable, and it was in them that the lamp of learning and art was kept burning. The causes which led to their destruction would be too long a matter to discuss here. In justice we must say that the charges of gross immorality levied against the monks were neither fair nor were they the real reason for the dissolution of the monasteries.

The last monastery had fallen by 1540. In most cases the churches were destroyed, and even when they were preserved the brasses were taken from the gravestones and sold by the Commissioners who confiscated the property.

Thus at St Albans there were over 270 brasses, and now there are hardly a dozen. In all England there are barely 30 monastic brasses left. They include seven monks and a friar, two abbesses, a prior and five vowesses, besides one or two doubtful examples.

Besides the three abbots already mentioned as showing episcopal vestments, there are four mutilated fragments on the reverse of palimpsests (see below). These will be given in the list of palimpsests.

The dress of a monk included the tunic, an undergarment, with the gown over it, the scapula and cowl or hood. The tonsure is much larger than that of a parish priest.

Abbot John Lawrence at Burwell, 1542, was originally shown in full vestments, but as he survived the dissolution his brass was changed. He now appears in cassock, surplice and almuce. The upper part of the figure is new, but the lower shows on the reverse the original engraving. There is a canopy, part of which is palimpsest and shows, on the reverse, part of a deacon, c. 1320.

The Benedictines were by far the richest and largest of the Orders. The Cluniacs were a reformed order of Benedictines. The chief difference was that each monastery was under the direct supervision of Cluny, and not of the mother monastery from which it sprung. In England there was an exception and Lewes stood in the position of Cluny to the other English Cluniac monasteries. It alone was directly under Cluny.

Prior Neolond, here illustrated, was therefore a very important man. His dress is exactly similar to that of the Benedictines. The canopy, as shown, is the finest still extant of purely English type. The central pediment is itself triple and holds a shrine with the Virgin and Child within. St Pancras and St Thomas à Becket stand on the finials of the other pediments. The whole brass measures 10 ft. 2 in. × 4 ft. 3 in.

The Augustinian abbot wears gown and cowl over the ordinary choir vestments. The crozier rests on the right arm and he wears no mitre.

A vowess was a widow who took monastic vows. It is not easy to distinguish the dress from that of the ordinary widow.

The Duchess of Gloucester, after the murder of her husband in 1397, entered the nunnery at Barking, Essex, and died there two years later. She appears in the first act of Richard II. Her brass lies on an altar tomb in St Edmund’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey. Her heraldic badge—the swan—adorns the inscription and the central pediment of her triple canopy. Five armorial shields still hang from the shafts, but the sixth is lost. The pinnacle between the central and the sinister arch is now lost, but was still intact when this rubbing was taken. (See illustration.) Thus year by year portions of these ancient monuments are carelessly lost or stolen.

The friar, in gown and cowl, with knotted cord (c. 1440), at Denham, Bucks., is on the reverse of Amphillis Peckham, 1545.

The other brasses call for no further attention, save that in the case of the two nuns from Sion their convent had already been dissolved. The abbess is shown without her crosier and Margaret Dely without her mantle.

Palimpsest Brasses.

By this we mean brasses which have been twice used. The dissolution of the monasteries led to thousands of brasses being sold for old metal, both from the churches destroyed and from those that were allowed to remain. In 1551 an order was issued confiscating all the church plate. It is therefore not surprising that great numbers of brasses were stolen. It is noteworthy that Elizabeth disapproved of these proceedings and ordered that fresh plate should be procured, and that the damaged monuments should be restored. The stolen brasses often went into the melting pot, but sometimes they were re-engraved and used to commemorate contemporary persons.

Palimpsests are produced in three ways:

I. By engraving the back of the brasses.

II. By re-engraving and altering the figures.

III. By simply substituting a fresh inscription.

Those contained in the first group are probably the most numerous, and are subdivided into three groups:

(a) Plunder from English churches at the Reformation; (b) plunder from Flemish churches at the same period; (c) shop-wastes and earlier stolen brasses.

The Flemish or German brasses, about 50 in number, were probably plunder from the Dutch churches, which were sacked by the Calvinists in 1566. So complete was the destruction wrought in that short week that to-day there are fewer complete Flemish brasses in their original home than there are fragments of Flemish brasses in England. (See Appendix.)

The reverses vary considerably in date and subject. Those laid down from 1540-1570 show that even before the great outbreak of iconoclasm of 1566 a good many brasses had been stolen.

Taillor at Hadleigh, in Suffolk, was burnt during the Marian persecution in 1555, and an inscription was laid down in 1560. The reverse, c. 1500, shows the head and shoulders and hands of a civilian on a diapered background with certain other details. The Margate brass, 1582, shows on the reverse scenes from the life of man. One is of a child catching butterflies, and the other, two boys walking on stilts.

Besides these groups there is a third type consisting mostly of shop-wastes, i.e. sometimes a brass which had been ordered was not approved; the engraver then either melted it down or re-engraved it on the other side. Also, brasses were stolen and sold to the brass engravers, who would use them again in the same way. Many of these are quite early and often only a few years separate the engravings on the two sides.

In a few cases the same person is depicted with certain details altered. John Lawrence of Burwell has already been mentioned.

The demi-figure of Thos. Cod, St Margaret’s, Rochester, 1465, is a striking example. The reverse shows him in almuce and cope, but for some unknown reason this apparently was disapproved. He is therefore shown on the obverse with an amice in place of the almuce.

A late example is at Walton-on-Thames. John Selwyn, 1587, was Gentleman Keeper of the Royal Park at Oatlands. At a stag-hunt in the presence of Elizabeth he leapt from his horse on to the back of the stag when both were going at full speed. There he kept his seat, with his sword guided the animal towards the Queen, and then plunged the steel into its throat so that it fell dead at her feet.

This is depicted on a small plate placed between the heads of Selwyn and his wife. The subject is engraved on both sides. The reverse was lightly sketched and was rejected. It shows him hatless holding the stag’s right horn.

The two remaining groups, II and III, are much less numerous. Group II consists of figures which have been altered.

Examples of this kind are Robt. Hanson, 1545, Chalfont St Peters, Bucks., altered (by adding shading, etc.) from a priest, 1440. Humphrey Oker and wife, 1538, Okeover, Staffs., altered from Wm. Lord Zouche and two wives, c. 1447. The figure of one wife was left intact and the other was turned over and engraved with the children and an oak-tree bearing a shield.

There are a few other examples, but perhaps the most interesting is that to Walter Curzon and wife, Waterperry, Oxon., 1527, altered from c. 1445. A new head and shoulders were engraved, the palettes were partly erased and shading was added on arms, cuirass and legs. The taces have been re-engraved to form a skirt of mail. The ends of the shoes have been partly erased and the toes rounded. The upper half of the lady is Tudor, the lower half has had shading added to the lines, and a chain hanging from the belt added.

Group III consists of appropriate brasses which have not been re-engraved. A new inscription, and sometimes shields, are merely added.

Good examples of this group are the brasses of Sir John Dyve, 1535, wife and mother, Bromham, Beds., appropriated from Thos. Wideville and two wives under triple canopy, c. 1435; John Wybarne (in armour), c. 1546, Ticehurst, Sussex, appropriated from c. 1370; Laughton, Lincs., 1549, man under triple canopy, appropriated from c. 1400; Joan ffenner, 1516, Horley, Surrey, appropriated from c. 1420, with fine canopy.

There are several other examples and they must be carefully distinguished from those brasses which have been copied from an earlier brass, as has happened in the effigy of Peter Rede at St Peter Mancroft, Norwich.

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During this period more brasses were laid down than in the whole of the preceding time. Over 1100 belong to the reigns of Henrys VII and VIII. From Edward I to Richard III, 1000 were laid down.

But the work shows lamentable signs of steady deterioration; metal and engraving are usually poor, the former thin and the latter shallow and with too much detail. There is a greater variety of design, but many are in bad taste, such as figures shown in shrouds or as skeletons. At this date brasses are often placed on the wall, and sometimes are quadrangular. The latter must be carefully distinguished from foreign ones (see later).

Canopies are few and heavy, but continue to follow the traditional lines.

In the military brasses a sudden change becomes noticeable. The Yorkist armour is changed to the Tudor between 1490 and 1500. Its characteristics are that the placates are omitted, the pauldrons are single and have passe-gards to protect the neck, shorter tuilles are attached to the taces, a skirt of mail has been re-introduced and reaches well down over the thighs. The graceful, pointed sollerets—which must have been rather uncomfortable—were replaced by sabbatons with large rounded or square toes.

The sword is usually hung across the back of the legs. The hair is long and straight. Most of these and other characteristics will be seen in the illustration of John Shelley and wife, Clapham, Sussex, 1526. The Tabard of Arms covers the body armour.

The Yorkist armour was certainly more beautiful, but one is apt to get rather an unfair impression from the brasses. There still survives a considerable amount of actual armour of this period, and from it we can see that it was often truly magnificent. At times it was engraved and embossed, and there are several variations not shown in the brasses, such as the skirt of plate. Those interested in the subject should study the fine collections at the Tower of London and elsewhere. It is most fortunate that our national collection of armour was begun just when the brasses by deterioration began to furnish less trustworthy evidence. Of the armour previous to the Yorkist period, practically none survives, hence the importance of the good engraving of the earlier brasses. (See Appendix.)

Serjeants-at-arms usually carry maces.

One of the most characteristic features of the period is the armorial tabard. Often, too, the wife has an armorial mantle: as in the brass of John Shelley and his wife, 1526, Clapham, Sussex, here shown. The arms are repeated on Shelley’s sleeves and his wife bears her own arms impaling those of her husband on her mantle. The Holy Trinity is shown above the figures.

The tabard replaced the heraldic jupon of the Plantagenets during the Lancastrian period. The earliest is to John Wantele, 1424, Amberley, Sussex, but the arms are not repeated on the sleeves. There are but few examples, however, till the Yorkist period, and they only became plentiful under the Tudors. They died out in the opening years of Elizabeth, the last being to Sir John Tregonwell, Milton Abbey, Dorset, 1565.

Examples of Tabards of Arms during the Yorkist period are: Sir John Say and wife, Broxbourne, Herts., 1473, and Philip Mede and two wives, St Mary, Redcliff.

Lady Tiptoft at Enfield, Middlesex, c. 1470 (here illustrated), is a very splendid brass, and shows the armorial bearings well. (See Appendix.)

The colour of the coats-of-arms was probably shown by means of lead for argent, coloured earths for colour, and the plain brass for or. At Ardingley, Sussex, are three brasses in all of which the coloured earth is still in place. Unless this has been replaced later, it is a striking example, for in most cases all trace of the coloured earths has vanished. At Broxbourne, real enamel was used (as also at Stoke d’Abernon, 1279), and in consequence most of the colour is still in place.

It is held by some that all engraved lines on all brasses were filled in with black wax or some similar substance, just as in our modern inscriptions. That this was so in some cases seems certain, and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the foreign brass to Henry Oskens (canon) from Nippes, near Cologne, 1535, much of the wax is still there. It is, of course, impossible to make a good rubbing of such a brass.

It does not seem likely that most of the brasses were so treated, but it would take too long to go into all the evidence which leads one to hold this view, nor is it desirable to use it now.

The ladies’ dress also changes at the same time as their husbands’. The butterfly head-dress gives way to the kennel head-dress. This has a stiff point in front and is carried back like the roof of a kennel (hence the name) and has long side lappets, usually of embroidery. In some of the earlier examples these are pinned up (Ardingley), but, as a rule, they fall straight down (Clapham).

The dress is close-fitting and has a square collar and fur cuffs. Round the waist is a girdle with a chain pendant in front, to which is attached an ornament of varying shape. Occasionally mantles are worn, as at Cobham, Kent, but seldom, except when they bear a coat-of-arms.

Quite often babies will be found wrapped in chrysoms with swaddling bands round them. This robe was placed on the child by the priest as soon as it was baptised (which was when it was only a few days old). It was worn till the mother came to be churched, when it was returned to the priest. These brasses therefore show that the child died during the time that elapsed between baptism and the churching. Chrysom children are found alone or with parents. This type of brass survived till the middle of the seventeenth century.

Occasionally brasses are found commemorating women who died in childbirth. The infant is then usually shown in a chrysom robe, and in later brasses the mother is often shown lying on a four-post bedstead. Anne Asteley, Blickling, Norfolk, 1512, probably belongs to this group. During the reign of Elizabeth, several examples of bedstead brasses are found. The first is at Heston, Middlesex, 1581, another is at Halling, Kent, 1587, and there are several others.

The civilians at this period are numerous, but not particularly interesting. The hair is long and straight, the gown reaches to the feet and is usually lined and edged with fur. The sleeves are wide, and a girdle surrounds the waist, from which hangs a short rosary and a purse. Broad-toed shoes are worn. The brass at Ardingley shows this dress, the canopy is an unusual feature.

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During this period not more than sixty brasses were laid down. This was largely due to the religious and political turmoil of the period and is the more to be regretted, especially in the case of the clergy, as the brasses might have thrown much light on the question of the vestments worn during the time when the first and second Prayer Books of Edward VI were in use.

The engraving grows steadily poorer and the metal thinner.

Of the ecclesiastics, the following is believed to be a complete list for both reigns, but the Marian clergy, being naturally in full vestments, have for the most part been mentioned before.

Hugh Brystowe (parson), Waddesdon, Bucks. (in shroud), 1548.

Jn. White (Warden of Winchester College and later Bp. of Winchester), Winchester College is in cope, laid down in 1548.

Thos. Magnus (archdeacon), Sessay, Yorks. (cope), 1550.

Bp. Goodryke of Ely, Ely Cathedral (full vestments), 1554.

Bp. Bell of Worcester, St James, Clerkenwell (ditto), 1556.

James Coorthopp (Dean of Peterborough), Christ Church, Oxford (in almuce), 1557.

Arthur Cole (Canon of Windsor), Magdalen College, Oxford (in mantle of the Order), 1558.

Robt. Brassie (in almuce), King’s College, Cambridge, 1558.

The largest number of transitional brasses represent men in armour either with or without the tabard of arms.

The chief changes are that the mail skirt has often an indented edge, the taces are divided at the lower part by an arched opening between the tuilles, and frills are worn at the wrists.

The most noteworthy change in the ladies’ attire is that the kennel head-dress is abandoned. The hair is parted in front and a linen cap supports a bonnet, often of velvet and having a jewelled edge. It is generally of horseshoe shape. A kerchief hangs down over the neck and shoulders behind. This head-dress is continued during the reign of Elizabeth and was known as the Queen Mary cap, at first after Mary Tudor, and later after Mary Stuart. The sleeves are slashed and puffed at the shoulders and from the belt hangs a mirror or other ornament. The collar is thrown open and reveals a gathered underbodice. A long cloak with false sleeves is often found, and heraldic mantles are still worn when the husband appears in a tabard. These died out in the opening years of Elizabeth, as already stated.

Of civilians little need be said. Their wives follow the new style, but little alteration in their own dress is noticeable. Three examples may be given, the last a woolman, the other two judges. These are Henry Bradschawe and wife, Halton, Bucks., 1553; Wm. Coke and wife, Milton, Cambridge, 1553; Anthony Cave and wife, Chicheley, Bucks., 1558.

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During this last period there was a considerable revival both in the number and quality of brasses. About 800 were laid down in these two reigns and at first there is a marked improvement in the engraving. It is usual to speak as if the deterioration continued steadily from the time of Henry VIII through the Edwardian and Elizabethan brasses to the final disappearance of the art in the eighteenth century. This is not quite the case. The Elizabethan brasses (with which are included those of James I) are decidedly better in many instances than those of the Transitional period. Even some of the Caroline examples are better than those laid down between 1547 and 1558.

Early in the reign of Elizabeth, the plate of brass itself began to be manufactured in England. It was usually thin, however, and the engraving as in the Transitional brasses was shallow and too much detail and shading were attempted. The thinness of metal led to their becoming battered and worn and they are often in far worse condition than those laid down a couple of centuries earlier.

Many brasses were, however, fixed to the walls and these are in a much better state of preservation. These sometimes take the form of rectangular plates: at times the figures are fixed against the wall in a recess over a tomb. They are then usually depicted kneeling at desks.

The new style of armour which took the place of that worn in the Transitional period became finally established by 1575. Its main characteristics are these: The use of the long-waisted doublet and the short hose rendered the old style of armour unwearable. The cuirass becomes long and is brought forward to a peak with a projecting rim. It is known as a “peascod.” The pauldrons are large and have no ridges, they are lined with leather the escalloped edge of which is allowed to extend beyond the plates. The neck is encircled by a ruff, as are the wrists. The helmet is seldom worn, but is often placed behind the head, though the figure is depicted standing.

Kneeling figures in many cases have the helmet on the ground, together with the gauntlets.

The front of the thighs are protected by laminated cuissarts under the trunk hose, and the legs by knee-caps and greaves. The sollerets are of a more graceful shape and fit the feet closely. Two long tassets are buckled to the edge of the cuirass, and hang down over the trunk hose. They are all formed of several hinged plates and take the place of tuilles. They are not infrequently rounded at the lower edge and are fastened by straps to the breeches. The sword hangs at the left side from a leather belt and the dagger at the right side from a sash. Swords usually possess guarded hilts.

The illustration of Wingfield, Easton, Suffolk, shows these characteristics, and there are but few variations. The most noticeable is where, the puffed breeches not being worn, continuous plates from knee to cuirass protect the legs. This type is shown in the brasses of Thos. Hawkins, Boughton-under-Blean, Kent, 1587, and Thos. Nevynson and wife, Eastry, Kent, 1590.

It is remarkable how, in spite of gunpowder being in general use, the men of the age of Elizabeth were still encased in a panoply of plate.

The ladies fall naturally into two divisions. The Transitional form, or Queen Mary dress, changed about 1560. The gown is fastened only at the waist by a sash, and thus shows below an embroidered or quilted petticoat. Between the bodice and the throat, the bust is covered by a gathered partlet with a frill and the Paris bonnet continues in use. From about 1575 a new style comes into vogue and is well shown in the illustration of the wife of Wm. Wade, Bildeston, Suffolk, 1599. Her skirt is distended at the hips by the farthingale and shows the embroidered petticoat beneath. The sleeves are slashed and a large ruff is round the neck. Usually frills are also worn at the wrists, but here Alice Wade is an exception. A broad-brimmed hat is worn.

There are several variations. The lappet of the bonnet is sometimes turned up over the head, and when it comes far enough forward to shade the face, it is called a “Shadow.” At the end of the period, a large veil was substituted. Sometimes the hair is brushed up to a lace crown, supported by a wire frame. This fashion is shown in the brass of Margt. Chute, Marden, Hereford, 1614. She wears besides the wheel farthingale, a peaked stomacher, and a starched collar ornamented with point lace.

The bedstead brasses have already been mentioned in reference to the chrysom children, but are really a peculiarity of this period.

The civilian costume is not over-interesting, because doublet and hose are usually covered by a long gown, such as is seen in the memorial to Wm. Dunche and wife, quadrilateral plate, Little Wittenham, Berks., engraved c. 1585. Here husband and wife kneel at desks under two classical arches. Two sons kneel behind their father. They wear short cloaks, doublet and hose. This is also the costume of the sons of Alice Wade, who wear pointed beards.

The brasses of children, especially boys, become fairly numerous and are not without interest, as they exhibit the doublet and hose under a short cloak. The brass of W. Browne, Holton, Oxon., 1599, is a good example, showing the long hose fastened above the knee by garters of ribbon.

The clergy for the most part wear the ordinary civilian dress of the day without cassock or surplice, and a long gown with long sleeves, known as the Geneva gown. Some also wear a hood to denote they hold a degree, as does Dr Wm. Bill, Dean of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, 1561.

Of clergy in surplice and cassock only two brasses now survive. Formerly at Denham, Bucks., there was one portraying Leonard Hurst, 1561, in cassock and surplice opening in front like a college surplice and a long scarf. It is now lost, but is illustrated in Haine’s Manual. The two that still survive are Wm. Dye (priest), Westerham, Kent, 1567, who wears cassock, a closed and gathered surplice and a scarf, and Nich. Asheton, Winchford, Warwick, 1582, very similar to the lost brass at Denham, Bucks.

The remaining clergy are in civilian costume, but one or two wear a scarf over the Geneva gown, as at Stonham Aspal, 1606.

In many cases the title of the ecclesiastic is given, and these are of some interest. (See Appendix.)

Tyndall’s figure is 5 ft. 4 in. long and there is a border fillet and several shields.

There are three bishops, but Robt. Pursglove, 1579, is in full mass vestments, and has been mentioned before.

Edmund Geste, Bishop of Salisbury, in his Cathedral, 1578, wears rochet and chimere, a scarf and lawn sleeves. Instead of a crozier, he holds a walking stick in his right and a book in his left hand. It should be remembered that this was the outdoor garb, hence probably the walking stick.

H. Robinson, Bishop of Carlisle, 1616, has two brasses, that at Queen’s College, Oxford, being copied and put over his grave in Carlisle Cathedral. His brass, like Airay’s, who succeeded him as Provost of Queen’s, differs from the usual type. They resemble the copper plates used in books and are very finely engraved and filled with many additional emblems. A good rubbing cannot be taken owing to the thinness of the engraving, which nevertheless is well done.

On a quadrilateral plate, Robinson kneels in front of Queen’s College and Carlisle Cathedral. There are three sheep folds to signify he was a shepherd to his flock. Several peasants with their tools and in the dress of the period stand in one corner and dons are entering Queen’s College in the other. He wears a skull cap and ruff, rochet and chimere. In his left hand he holds his crozier, which has a human eye in the centre, and a stork on the outer curve of the volute. The infula is a napkin and bears the word “Velando.”

From the Elizabethan period some attempt at portraiture is made: in the case of Robinson and Airay with considerable success. The brass to Erasmus Williams, Rector at Tingewick, Bucks., 1608, is probably by the same hand as these two and is signed R. Haydock. It is very similar in general treatment to them, and on Airay’s brass are the same initials R. H.

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The art of monumental brasses shows signs of rapid deterioration, and from it there was to be no recovery. About 150 were laid down during the reign of Charles I and 13 during the Commonwealth.

Only two are really fine: Archbp. Harsnett’s brass at Chigwell, 1631, and Sir Edw. Filmer’s, here shown.

Armour is seldom worn, knights being usually depicted in civilian dress, and where it is worn, it generally consists of a demi-suit of cuirass, with laminated plates for the thighs and small knee pieces. Jack boots protect the legs. There are many variations, but the brass of Sir Edw. Filmer and wife, East Sutton, Kent, is fairly typical.

Of the nine sons, only one wears armour and none wear ruffs. The eight daughters are similar to their mother, who wears a gown without farthingale and a veil over the head. The brass consists of two large rectangular plates and though too much shading is put in, yet is a good example for the period.

The ladies have abandoned the farthingale and wear more graceful gowns, sometimes with ruffs and sometimes with falling collars. A light veil often covers the head. Sometimes the embroidered petticoat can be seen underneath the gown, which is divided in front. An example is to be found at Ardingley, Sussex, to Eliz. Culpeper, aged 7, 1634, and also in a larger brass to her mother.

The civilians are still fairly numerous, but the engraving is usually poor. The long gown is worn no more, the costume being the tunic with falling collar, knee-breeches, stockings and shoes or jack boots and a short cloak. Sometimes a ruff is worn instead of a collar. Most of these details will be seen in the sons of Sir Edw. Filmer. Point lace was often worn and is occasionally seen, as in the small, badly engraved brass of Thos. Holl, 1630.

The brass of John Moorwood and wife is characteristic. He kneels opposite his wife, Grace, at a desk. Besides the costume described above, he wears a ruff and a skull cap. His hair is long and he has a moustache and a pointed beard. His sons are similar, save that they are hatless and have no beard or moustache. His wife has a very plain dress and a high-crowned hat, her daughters have no ruffs, veils, or bonnets.

The six at Llanrwst, Denbigh, are quite distinct and represent either the work of a local school or of a special artist. There was also a local school at York. Its peculiarity was that the figures were large demi-figures, usually on a quadrilateral plate, which was narrower at the top than at the bottom. A considerable amount of fur is displayed, and the faces appear to be good portraits. The Elizabethan have already been mentioned in the last chapter, but there are several others.

There is one good Caroline brass—that to Thos. Atkinson, All Saints, North St., York, 1642. It may have been engraved a few years earlier.

Among ecclesiastics there is but one fine example, and that is perhaps the best Caroline brass still extant. It commemorates Samuel Harsnett, Archbp. of York at Chigwell, Essex, 1631. He had left special instructions in his will as to how it was to be made. The metal was to be an inch thick and to be rivetted right through the stone so that it could not easily be torn up. The result is a fine monument. He wears cope, rochet, chimere and a mitre. He holds his crozier in his left hand and a book in the right. The face is evidently a portrait. There is a border inscription with the evangelists at the corners. The figure is 6 ft. long. The crozier is not a cross, but a crook and has a rose in the volute.

During the Commonwealth naturally few brasses were laid down, and the distrust with which all representations of the human form were regarded by the Puritans, who considered them a breach of the Second Commandment, probably gave the death blow to the failing art. Besides those already mentioned, the following have been noticed: Ralph Assheton (in armour) and wife, Middleton, Lancs., 1650; Adam Beaumont (in armour) and wife, Kirkheaton, Yorks., 1655. These are the only men in armour. Assheton was a leader on the Puritan side and did good service. Beaumont was his son-in-law and is clad in similar style. The armour is a demi-suit, consisting of skirted cuirass, pauldrons, elbow-pieces and laminar cuissarts extending to the top of his tall boots. There is no actual representations of a cleric, but Dan. Evance, rector, quadrilateral plate, Calbourne, I.o.W., 1652 is commemorated by a plate with a drawing of Time and Death.

Most of these are but miserable caricatures and reveal the final stage of decay. Yet they are not without interest, though perhaps a melancholy one.

During the Caroline period many brasses to young children were laid down. Sometimes the babe is shown lying on a tomb, at others it is represented in its cradle. Two in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, may be quoted, and commemorate the children of Dr John King. They are dated 1630 and 1633.

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The last few brasses are of little artistic value. (See Appendix.)

Robt. Shiers, 1668, is perhaps the best of them. He wears a long, flowing gown reaching to the feet and holds a book in his hand. Nicholas Toke is in Jacobean armour, but with a fall collar and long hair. Probably his figure was copied from an earlier brass, for his daughters, who are on a separate plate, are very crudely drawn.

The last two brasses are the only Georgian ones known to exist and they are separated by a great space of time from the others. Whether they were each engraved at the dates given on the plates or whether they were both done at the same time is difficult to say. Benjamin Greenwood’s brass is certainly the best, his wife’s figure being very crude. She has on a plain gown and a veil. He is in a coat with open skirts, a figured waistcoat, knee-breeches, and wig. He points to a skull with his left hand and to a ship with his right. Probably he was a merchant captain.

Both plates have a pair of cherubs’ heads in the upper corners and are upon separate gravestones; the engraving is very thin.

Thus we have seen the art of the engravers rise in the thirteenth century and die in the eighteenth.

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Besides the ordinary figure brasses, there are a certain number of special types. Those representing Scriptural subjects are perhaps the most interesting. They are less numerous than might be expected and usually form part of a canopy, or, at any rate, part of a composition which includes large figures.

The Holy Trinity is the most common emblem and is depicted as a venerable man seated, holding Christ crucified. The Holy Ghost in the form of a dove is sometimes perched on one arm of the Cross, or hovers over the head, but it is often omitted.

The Holy Trinity is found at Cobham, 1407; Peperharrow, 1487; Shirburn, 1493, and Witney, Oxon., 1500; Childrey, Berks., 1507; Floore, Northants., 1510; Wooburn, Bucks., 1520; Clapham, Sussex, 1526; Beaumaris, Anglesea, c. 1530; Cheam, Surrey, 1542.

The Virgin is found at Cobham, 1395; Bottesford, Leics., 1404; Morley, Derbys., 1470; Etwall, Derbys., 1512; St George’s Chapel, Windsor, 1522; and elsewhere.

Numerous other saints are depicted as well as those in canopy niches and on the orphreys of copes.

The Annunciation is found in several places. That at Fovant, Wilts., 1492, is contained in a rectangular plate commemorating Geo. Rede, rector. He wears cassock and scarf, kneels on a chequered pavement and prays to the Virgin, who, dressed in mantle, sideless cote-hardi and kirtle, with a wreath of roses on her head, kneels at a prie-dieu in the centre of the plate. A pot of lilies stands behind her and an angel kneels on the further side, wearing an alb and mantle. The Dove flies towards the Virgin from a cloud in the corner. The whole composition is reminiscent of foreign work, but is almost certainly English. An Annunciation is to be seen at March, Cambs. (1517), above the figures of Antony Hansart and his wife. A third is in the canopy of William Porter, S.T.P., 1524, Hereford Cathedral.

The Adoration of the Shepherds is found at Cobham, Surrey, c. 1500.

The Resurrection is more widely distributed, and in two forms according as (a) there are or (b) are not soldiers round the tomb.

Of class (a), those at Swansea, c. 1500; Cranley, Surrey, 1503; All Hallows, Barking, c. 1510; and Narburgh, Norfolk, 1545, are characteristic.

Of class (b), examples may be seen at Stoke Charity, Hants., 1482; Stoke Lyne, Oxon., 1535 and Burwell, Cambs., 1542. Of this latter class, the Burwell brass is the best. The Saviour’s form is unclothed and the lower half hidden within the tomb; His hands are raised and He holds no cross.

Class (a) is the more interesting. The Cranley and Swansea representations are the best. In the former, which is to Robt. Hardyng and his wife, 1503, Christ steps from the sarcophagus unclothed save for a loin cloth. Four out of the five wounds are thus plainly shown. He holds a cross (in His left hand) bearing a pennon, with a cross in its centre. A nimbus is around His head. The four soldiers are clad in armour with morions on their heads and halberts in their hands.

The Swansea representation measures 12 × 11 inches and is to Sir Hugh Johnys and his wife, c. 1500. He was a knight of the Holy Sepulchre, and fought against the Turks under John, at that time Emperor of Constantinople. One of the soldiers round the tomb evidently represents a Saracen. He is shown sleeping with a scimitar at his left, a spiked mace at his right side.

One other curious pictorial example must not be omitted. It represents the Mass of St Gregory. The Pope kneels before an altar, while the figure of our Lord rises from behind the chalice, changed from the consecrated wafer. It is in the brass of Roger Legh and wife (lost), Macclesfield, Cheshire, 1506, and is unique. The original story is in the Golden Legend.

Heart Brasses.

The next curious type is that known as Heart Brasses. A heart is often shown held in the hands of the deceased, as at Buslingthorpe, Lincs., c. 1290. At other times it is found quite separate from the figure and often with two or three inscribed scrolls coming from it. Thos. Knyghtley, Fawsley, Northants., 1516, is typical of this class.

But the name applies more especially to those monuments in which the heart appears alone. Often these doubtless marked the spot where the heart alone was buried. We have many authentic records of men who ordered their hearts to be buried apart from their bodies. Some of these were knights who perished abroad and ordered their bodies to be buried where they died, but their hearts to be brought back to England. From the inscription upon one of the four scrolls of the Wiggenhall brass, Cuius cor hic humatur, we may reasonably infer that the heart only lies beneath the stone. There are several stone monuments showing only hearts, which records prove cover only that organ. Thus, Sir Thos. Neville’s body was buried at Billing, 1535, and his heart at Mereworth, Kent. At the latter place his stone monument consists of a heart held by two hands.

Heart brasses proper fall into two main divisions: (a) plain, sometimes inscribed or with scrolls, (b) held by hands, usually coming out of a cloud.

Class (a) includes Thos. Smyth, priest, St John’s, Margate, Kent, 1433; an unknown person, Kirby Bedon, Norfolk, c. 1450; and Sir Robt. Kervile, Wiggenhall St Mary, Norfolk, c. 1450.

Good representatives of class (b) are the brasses of John Merstun, priest, Lillingstone Lovell, Oxon., 1446; Wm. Stapilton, Helbroughton, Norfolk, c. 1450; Dionysius Willys, Loddon, Norfolk, 1462; and Thos. Denton, Caversfield, Bucks., 1533. (See Appendix.)

Shrouds.

These and the following group are neither beautiful nor pleasing monuments. They are signs of the morbid feeling that seems to have begun to spread over England about the middle of the fifteenth century and which did not pass away until the nineteenth.

Many stone monuments exist showing reclining figures in the costume of the period on a raised tomb, while beneath, visible through openings in the sides, are the same persons shown as skeletons or shrouded figures. This contrast is seldom exhibited in brasses, but the kneeling figure of Lionel Dymoke, Horncastle, Lincs. (1519), in armour, is engraved upon a small plate on the wall, while on the pavement below he is represented by a shrouded figure.

In some cases the brass was laid down on the death of one of those commemorated. The latter is then shown in a shroud, while those who survived are shown in the dress of the period.

Women can be recognised by their long, flowing hair, and priests by their tonsure. The purpose of this type of brass was probably to remind us that “such as we are, such shall ye be.” (See Appendix.)

Under the Tudors, this type of brass increased in favour, and its persistence is remarkable. The last brass of 1660 was probably inspired by the earlier one of 1505.

At Childrey, c. 1520, husband and wife rise from their tombs, but at Oddington devouring worms crawl out of the body, which is almost a skeleton.

This leads us to

Skeletons.

They are not so common as shroud brasses, but belong to the same class. Indeed, some of the former are really shrouded skeletons.

Other designs.

A few other designs may be found scattered up and down the country. Perhaps the most interesting is to Roger Morris, Margate, Kent, 1615. He was an official in the Navy and his brass consists of a square plate showing a three-masted square rigged man-o’-war. It has a lion figure-head, high poop and many guns showing through the port holes.

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(See special articles on this subject by the author in The Builder, vol. CII.)

Brasses frequently contain a considerable amount of architectural detail in their composition. Sometimes they were placed on altar tombs under stone canopies, but it is of those details depicted in the brass itself that the author purposes to write.

Canopies are by far the most important group, and the magnificence of some of these can be but faintly realised from the illustrations.

The earliest follow the Decorated style which was in fashion when they were laid down.

The first type consists of slender shafts supporting a pediment, of which the upper sides are straight, forming a triangle ornamented with crockets and terminated by a bunch of foliage. The arch beneath is trefoil and the cusps are filled with leaves. This form lasted from 1300 to c. 1325, but unfortunately only one example survives—that of Joan de Cobham, Cobham, Kent, 1320 (cf. p. 7). The side shafts were missing, but have, we believe, been restored. This is the second lady to be depicted on a brass, and she leads the fine series of nineteen brasses at Cobham. The slab of Margarete de Camoys, Trotton, Sussex, c. 1310, shows the matrix of a similar canopy. The fragments of the canopy of Sir Hugh Hastings, 1347, Elsing, Norfolk, also appear to belong to this type, but with later variations. In it, as in the canopy of Lawrence de St Maur, the canopies in the shafts are straight-sided.

This low pedimental form was soon superseded by the ogee arch rising to a considerable height. This is supported by equally tall side shafts. Sometimes, in place of a bunch of foliage, figures of saints are seen on the finial, as on several examples at Cobham, Kent, notably Lady Margaret (cf. p. 13). At other times a shield with a coat-of-arms takes its place, as in the brass of Archbishop Waldeby, Westminster Abbey, 1397.

The next development was to widen the shafts, so as to form panels or niches containing canopied saints. Often these are surmounted by a super-canopy. The brass of Lawrence de St Maur, Higham Ferrers, Northants. (cf. fig. 13) shows this type. Canopies over mass priests are very rare and this is by far the finest. The details have been given before, so we will turn to another variation of this type.

Instead of canopy and super-canopy, an embattled canopy with an ogee pediment within is found. A splendid example is to a former Dean of St Asaph’s and rector of Balsham, John Blodwell, 1462 (cf. p. 37). It measures 8 ft. 9 in. × 4 ft. 1 in.

Another development was, in place of a single arch to have double or triple arches. The former type was used almost exclusively where two persons were commemorated. The latter was sometimes used over three figures, but more often over one. Thus in the brass of the Duchess of Gloucester, Westminster Abbey, 1399 (cf. p. 47), we have a truly magnificent brass. Five shields hang from the shafts (the sixth is lost) and between the finials of her triple canopy are two other finials, one of which has been lost since this rubbing was made. A tabernacle with the Holy Trinity is often placed above the ogee arch in place of the central finial, as in the brass of Sir Nicholas Hawberk, Cobham, Kent, 1407. But not only the finest of this group, but of all English brasses now extant is the monument to Thomas Neolond, Cluniac Prior of Lewes, at Cowfold, Sussex, 1433 (cf. p. 45). This has a tabernacle with the Virgin and Child, and, moreover, the finials of the other two arches support St Pancras and St Thomas à Becket. Further, the central arch is also triple, and the shafts are supported by side shafts and connected by flying buttresses, as is likewise the tabernacle. The entire scheme is very graceful and recalls the lantern at Ely in its lightness. It is 10 ft. 2 in. × 4 ft. 3 in. A somewhat similar brass is that to John Sleford at Balsham, 1401.

The earlier canopies were not groined, one of the earliest exceptions being that over Lord Nicholas Burnell, Acton Burnell, Salop, 1382 (cf. p. 11). But during the fifteenth century this became more common (see the canopy of John Bloxham and John Whytton). It is an unsatisfactory feature, and characteristic of the gradual deterioration and coarsening of the engraving. This latter is also shown by the heavy finials and crockets.

In the sixteenth century, these peculiarities became more marked, though canopies still follow the traditional lines. There are two or three early Renaissance canopies, e.g. a large, triple one to Wm. Porter, S.T.P., Hereford Cathedral, 1524, and Dean Frowsetoure, in cope, Hereford Cathedral, 1529.

It is difficult to say whether the classical arches shown in a few of the later brasses can be termed canopies. An example is to be found to Wm. Dunche and wife, Little Wittenham, Berks, (double) engr., c. 1585. (See Appendix.)

Brackets.

The idea of this group probably originated with the brackets supporting figures of saints, which were common in our churches before the Reformation. The brackets usually projected from a wall or column, and a small pillar helped to support them. Above was a canopy of carved stone or wood.

One would naturally expect that, if this idea were copied, the bracket would hold a saint and the deceased would kneel before it. There are, however, only two examples extant. The brass of John Spycer and wife, Burford, Oxon., 1437, is terribly mutilated. The canopy and Virgin and Child are lost, and only the deceased couple remain, kneeling on either side of the stem. The other example is practically complete and is to John Strete (priest in academics), Upper Hardres, Kent, 1405 (cf. p. 93). St Peter and St Paul stand on the bracket, and there is no canopy.

In all other cases the deceased persons themselves stand on the bracket. The earlier ones are much mutilated, and only one fourteenth century brass is at all perfect. It is to Sir John Foxley and two wives, Bray, Berks., 1378. The canopy is lost. The three figures are on a bracket with a short stem rising from the back of a fox, the family crest. The total length of the composition is just over 5 ft. Though the ladies are standing, the knight rests with his head on his helm and his feet on a lion.

The fifteenth century brasses are far more complete. (See Appendix.)

The Merton College brass is one of the finest. The stem rises from a tabernacle holding the Lamb with the banner.

In the sixteenth century should be noted the brasses of Sir Roger le Strange, Hunstanton, Norfolk, 1506; John Terry and wife, St John, Maddermarket, Norwich, 1524; John Marsham and wife, St John, Maddermarket, Norwich, 1525; and Robt. Rugge and wife, St John, Maddermarket, Norwich, 1558.

Sir Roger stands on a low bracket without a stem, placed within, not supporting, a magnificent canopy with figures of weepers in the side shafts.

The other three evidently come from a local school of engravers. Terry’s bracket resembles a tree, the branches support pedestals for himself, his wife and for his children. The whole is on a single plate. The Marsham bracket has a stem like that of a table and the top is covered with skulls and bones. In the Rugge brass there is only a corbel supporting an inscription.

So far as is known, there are no later bracket brasses.

Crosses.

These also form a group which may conveniently be dealt with here. At one time they were very numerous, but provoked the wrath of the Reformers more than any other type of brass, hence barely thirty remain. Matrices are still numerous and many might doubtless be restored as has been successfully done at Ely.

They fall into three main divisions: (1) plain crosses, (2) crosses with some saint in the centre, (3) crosses with the deceased in the centre.

This last group may be subdivided into: (a) quatrefoil, (b) octofoil. (See Appendix.)

(1) These vary considerably in form. At Higham Ferrers, the arms terminate in the Evangelistic symbols. At Royston, a bleeding heart and the four wounds are shown. At Eversley, the whole cross is formed of interlocking bands, or links of a chain. The cross at Floore, Northants., is drawn in perspective.

(2) There are but few examples of the second type. The best is to Robt. de Paris and wife, Hildersham, Cambs., 1379, here shown. The figures kneel on either side of a cross with an octofoil head, in which is the Holy Trinity. Robt. de Paris wears a long cloak, thrown open so as to show his undergarment, which stops short above the knees. A belt holds an anlace and his legs are covered with long hose.

Another example is that of John Mulsho and wife, Newton-by-Geddington, Northants., c. 1400, commemorated by a quatrefoil cross, holding a figure of St Faith. This brass was restored by Messrs Waller, but there seems little reason to doubt that the design is correct.

The brass of Robt. de Brun (priest), Chelsfield, Kent, 1417, is a much mutilated crucifix; the figure of St John is lost, the head of the Virgin and most of the cross. On the ground are Adam’s skull, Jacob’s ladder and the jawbone of an ass. The latter refers to the scriptural legend that from it flowed a stream of water to revive Samson’s spirit (Judges xv. 19).

(3) (a) This division includes a small group of much interest. Some of the earliest belong to it, and many others—of the fourteenth century—have perished. They are used to commemorate priests. These are: Rich. de Hakebourne (priest), Merton College, Oxford, c. 1310; A Priest, Chinnor, Oxford, c. 1320; Nichol. de Gore (priest), Woodchurch, Kent, c. 1320; and Britell Avenel (priest), Buxted, Sussex, 1408.

The first three brasses have lost their stems. The Merton and Chinnor crosses hold a demi-figure and a head respectively. Nicholas de Gore is a small, full-length figure, and the composition is very pleasing. The Buxted cross is the only one which is nearly perfect. The priest is a demi-figure, resting on a diapered background. There is a border inscription.

(b) Octofoil crosses are more numerous. Those at East Wickham, 1325, and Wimbish, 1347, have already been described.

The East Wickham brass had the missing parts restored in 1887. The Taplow cross (c. 1350) rises from a dolphin, an appropriate emblem for a fishmonger.

The octofoil consists of eight ogee arches, alternately large and small, with finials of foliage.

Other Architectural Features.

There are several brasses in which architectural features are included which do not come under these headings. Thus, Bishop Wyvil, Salisbury Cathedral, 1375, is shown as a demi-figure within a castle, with his champion at the portcullis below. This commemorates his recovery of the Castle of Sherborne for the See. There are several rabbits at the foot of the castle, and these probably commemorate his recovery of a piece of ground known as “The Warren.”

Bp. Robinson’s brass shows Carlisle Cathedral and Queen’s College, Oxford, and many sixteenth century brasses show walls, pillars, etc.

In an interesting series of three sixteenth century brasses, probably by the same hand, to Robt. Honywode, St George’s Chapel, Windsor, 1522; Robt. Sutton, St Patrick’s, Dublin, 1528; and Geoff. Fyche, St Patrick’s, Dublin, 1537; what is really a view of a side-chapel is shown.

At Windsor, beneath the Tudor arch, Honywode kneels at a prie-dieu before a statue of the Virgin and Child. In the Irish examples, the resemblance to a side-chapel is still more complete. Fyche kneels at a faldstool before an altar with a picture above it of the descent from the Cross. The vaulting of part of the roof is visible, and the walls have linenfold panelling. A shield hangs from a hook at one side bearing a bush with several birds on it and the initials F. G., which evidently refer to and are probably meant as a pun on his name—Finch for Fyche.

The floor is laid with tiles and a Renaissance arch forms a kind of canopy in the foreground. Parts of rooms are often shown in sixteenth century brasses.

In a few cases, brasses were laid down to founders of churches. They usually hold a model of the church in their hands. An example exists at Cobham, to Sir John de Cobham, 1365. The building is in the decorated style, has a small spire and a large porch.

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The great fascination of monumental brasses can only be realised by studying them on the spot. One of the best methods is to take rubbings of them.

Most of our readers doubtless know the method, but since a few may not, some particulars are appended.

A piece of cobblers wax should be procured from some boot repairer. The black kind is the only one which produces satisfactory results on white paper. It can usually be got in small lumps about the size of a halfpenny across. Melt down six of these to make a single ball. Procure a roll of plain white ceiling paper, the thinner the better, from a paper-hanger’s. It should cost from 6d. to 8d. according to quality. A penny nail-brush and a duster complete the outfit.

First ask permission from the Rector or Vicar. This should not be omitted, and will avoid unpleasantness. The clergy are usually most considerate in the matter, and very rarely refuse. But naturally they do not like absolute strangers to take rubbings without first asking permission. So far as the writer knows, permission is refused only at two churches, though probably there are a few others. In those cases the reason given was that it wore away the brass. We have never seen any real cause to think this can be correct. If we did, we should be the last to advocate brass-rubbing.

There is a kind of rubbing which does damage. Well-meaning vergers have been known to polish an old brass. This is absolutely destructive of the engraving.

Permission granted, remove the mat which probably covers and protects it. Brush off the accumulated dust, finishing off with the duster. Then carefully spread the paper over it and fix it down by weights round the edge. For these, hassocks are handy; prayer-books should be avoided, their misuse causes offence.

Then rub the paper down well with a clean part of the duster, so as to mark the main features and edges, and after that the rubbing with the wax ball itself will be easy.

The aim should be to produce a clear, dark impression. To get it, the rubbing must be hard and the paper must not slip. If there is a canopy, it will probably be found that the wax will mark parts of the paper beyond the design itself. In such a case, the rubbing should be cut out and mounted on paper or calico. Paste is better than gum for this purpose. The rubbing should always be polished by rubbing over with a clean part of the duster before being removed from the brass.

The completed rubbing may be mounted on rollers.

A good way of cataloguing, is to photograph each rubbing, mount a print in a book, and then number and name print and rubbing alike.

The proper treatment of the brasses themselves demands considerable attention. We spend huge sums on buying old pictures by foreigners, yet we take no trouble to preserve these matchless works of art, the work of our own ancestors.

There have been four great periods of destruction, each with its own characteristics. Indeed, from the Reformation down to the present day the work has gone on intermittently.

During the sixteenth century, the extreme Reformers united with those bent on plunder to rob our churches of these monuments. Brass has at all times been a valuable metal, and when religious zeal is combined with greed of gain, it is not surprising that thousands of brasses perished. The destruction of the great monastic churches brought with it of necessity the spoliation of their tombs which stood within; but even the parish churches were not safe. So keen was the thirst for plunder that the ministers of Edward VI confiscated even the church plate and the money for the poor.

Elizabeth,—all credit to her,—disapproved of such conduct and ordered that the plate should be replaced, though at whose cost is unknown; and, further, that all monuments broken down should be restored. If possible, this was to be done at the cost of those who had wrought the damage, otherwise the parish was to bear the burden.

The latter command seems to have been but slightly enforced, and there are but few examples of Elizabethan restoration of earlier monuments or brasses, though a few do exist.

During the seventeenth century, the Parliamentarians wrought tremendous havoc, but have had more than their fair share credited to them. Nearly as much destruction was wrought during the eighteenth century through neglect, and often these losses are laid to the door of the Puritans by the modern guide.

But perhaps the most lamentable devastations are those wrought in the nineteenth century. They were usually done by those who claimed to be “restoring” their parish churches. For example, while restoring a certain country church some twenty or thirty years ago, the architect found there were several old brasses which were being abominably treated. He informed a well-known firm of art metal workers, who sent down one of the partners. He found the workmen using one of the figures as a frying-pan over a wood fire in the churchyard! He rescued it, and many others which had been thrown out into the churchyard. Then he brought the matter to the notice of the incumbent, who absolutely refused to have anything to do with them, and declared that he would not have them in the church. Further, he told the partner that he could take them away. The latter hesitated to do so, and left them behind. A few days later, he received a box containing them. Not knowing what to do with them, he stored them away and forgot all about them.

Some twenty years later, they were re-discovered by his son, who showed them to some friends, and in the end he returned them to the church, suggesting that they should be restored to their proper places. He never even received an acknowledgement, but learnt later they were still lying neglected in the box.

The little value attached by many to brasses may be judged from the fact that Gilbert Scott replaced the fine brass at St John’s College, Cambridge, beneath the organ loft; and Pearson hid another away in the crypt of Truro. Often this scant respect was not shown, and they were sold as old metal, or, at best, torn from their stone matrices and fixed to a wall.

This latter is a constant trick of restorers, and should be strongly discouraged. Within the last year it has happened at Merstham, Surrey, and, indeed, hardly a year passes but it takes place somewhere. Firstly, the stone should not be removed at all, if in its original spot it marks the grave of the deceased, and this alone should be a sufficient reason for not removing it. If it must be removed and placed against the wall, the whole stone should be moved, and not merely the brass. Brass and stone are one and should not be separated. They may fitly be compared to a jewel and its setting.

Moreover, in raising them, the brasses become bent and twisted, and parts are nearly always lost. Further, if in its original matrix, one can fairly accurately judge of what is missing and, if it is desired, restore it.

Sometimes the excuse given for the removal is that it is to preserve them from the wear of people walking over them. This can be far better done by placing carpet or matting over them.

Even where only the matrix remains, it should be carefully preserved, as it is often of considerable interest and always the remnant of ancient work. They are of far more interest than a series of slabs of black and white marble or a series of modern machine-made tiles.

In some cases they might be carefully restored. The matrix gives a very faithful guide, and sometimes descriptions still exist. In the case where only part of the brass is lost, this should most certainly be done. Recently the author helped to restore an old brass at Shere, Surrey, the cost of the work being most generously borne by the Rector (Mr Hill).

John Touchet, Lord Audley, was executed on the charge of high treason by Henry VII in 1490. An altar tomb was set up in his memory about 1525. It showed a figure in armour with a marginal inscription on a chamfered edge. About 1745 the tomb was destroyed, and the top slab laid in the floor of the chancel. As the chamfered edge would thus be hidden, some person stole the brass fillet. About 1800 the lower half of the effigy was also stolen. When the church was restored in 1896, a parishioner gave the Rector a piece of the inscription which she had found hidden away in an old cottage she had recently bought. Not knowing to what figure it belonged, he fastened it to a window sill. Recently the writer drew his attention to the fact that it undoubtedly belonged to the mutilated figure, and suggested that a fresh matrix should be cut round the edge of the stone, and that the remainder of the inscription and the legs should be restored. To this he agreed, and the work was carefully executed by Messrs Gawthorp of 16, Long Acre. Fortunately the piece of inscription contained almost all the personal details save the year of Touchet’s death. This was discovered from documentary evidence to be 1490. A description of the legs was also found, taken just before they were stolen. This was fortunate, as one would not otherwise have known that there was a greyhound between his feet. Our thanks are due to Mr Mill Stephenson for much valuable advice and information. Every care was taken to make the new work as exactly like the old in colour and engraving as possible. But to prevent deception, each new piece was marked on the back with the date, 1911, and, further, a careful rubbing was taken before the restoration, showing the old work and the matrix, and this was framed and hung in the South Porch.

The matrix of a fine cross with a prior kneeling at the foot was restored some years ago at Ely.

Where a brass is loose, it should be refixed. Palimpsests may cause some difficulty. By far the best method is to have careful electrotypes made of the reverses and fastened up in the church, and the originals should then be permanently refixed in their matrices.

One cannot close without emphasizing the terrible destruction of these priceless works of art.

In St Albans Abbey, a few years ago, no less than 270 matrices were counted. Durham Cathedral, once paved with brasses, has not one left!

These matrices should be preserved, and, as yet, a complete catalogue of them has not been made. It is to be hoped that some antiquary will ere long undertake the task. There are still a great number—perhaps 6000—and often of unique interest. In several cases these slabs are older than the earliest surviving brasses. For example, the earliest of all is at St Paul’s, Bedford. It is believed to commemorate Sir Simon de Beauchamp, 1208, mentioned by Leland. There was a large cross 5 ft. 9 in. × 2 ft. 6 in. springing from a plate with an inscription, and having a small shield on either side of the head. There was also a border fillet.

Again, there is a splendid matrix at Durham, now carefully protected beneath a thick carpet. It is to Bp. Beaumont, 1333, and is larger and finer than any brass now extant, measuring 15 ft. × 10 ft. As a very complete description of it exists in a sixteenth century book, it would be comparatively easy to restore it to its former magnificence. And it must have been a splendid brass! The bishop is in full canonicals and a small angel censing him on either side, he stands beneath a fine triple canopy with super-canopy and saints. The shafts contain niches with the apostles, and on either side are side shafts connected to the canopy by flying buttresses and containing twelve figures of his ancestors. There are two lions beneath his feet and a border fillet, besides other interesting details. Is it too much to hope that some day money will be forthcoming to restore it?

Though we advocate a judicious restoration, it must be well done, or not at all. We all know the harm that has been wrought by zealous “restorers” of our churches, and we must not allow the same evil to befall the brasses.

The right lines to follow, in the author’s opinion, have already been described. The wrong way is to break the following rules:

(1) Never destroy any of the original brass.

(2) Never destroy the original matrix, and always let it act as a guide.

(3) Be sure and use the proper alloy. The old latten is of different alloy from the ordinary brass of modern commerce, which is much softer.

(4) Do not get an amateur or a local artist, who has had little or no experience in this kind of work, to do it. Go to one of the few firms which have made a special study of this kind of work. They may seem a little expensive, but in the end it is well worth the difference.

(5) If you want advice, write to the Monumental Brass Society, London, or, if you prefer it, to the author, who would always be glad to help in any way he could.

(6) See if there are any rubbings or description extant in the British Museum or elsewhere.

Perhaps this is an appropriate place at which to draw attention to the latent possibilities of a revival of brasses for modern memorials. When one reflects on the over-crowded state of some of our finest cathedrals with hideous and cumbersome monuments, the desirability of this revival becomes apparent. They would take up practically no space, and therefore would not interfere with the architecture of the building, as do the statues in Westminster Abbey. They are in keeping with the Gothic style of most of our churches. If good, they can be of considerable beauty and interest; if bad, a mat readily hides them from view.

One difficulty undoubtedly obtrudes itself, viz. modern dress. However, both Church and Army lend themselves to picturesque and fortuitous treatment. For the civilian, university gowns, mayoral and civic robes and even court dress are quite amenable to the engraver’s art.

As to women’s attire, a simple arrangement of veil or scarf about the head would be acceptable and dignified, in conjunction with garments of flowing and harmonious lines. Grotesque contours and eccentric mannerisms of attire would naturally be avoided. In this matter one need but follow in the steps of the old engravers.

The faces would either be portraits or not, as seemed desirable to those who had the brass laid down.

Two types might be followed:

(1) The old Gothic, with the figures recumbent, in which case the brass should be placed on the floor.

(2) The Renaissance, with the figure kneeling, as in many of the Elizabethan examples. These should be affixed to the wall. The faults of these latter are usually:

(a) Thin metal.

(b) Too much detail.

(c) Lack of depth in graving.

All these defects could be avoided to-day.

Certain modern specimens do exist, but cannot, as a rule, be placed in the front rank. An exception must be made in favour of a modern brass on the old lines laid down by Messrs Gawthorp at Islip, Northants. It is meant to replace a fifteenth century brass long since entirely vanished. A civilian and his wife, in the dress of c. 1460, stand beneath a double canopy, and the effect is most pleasing.

There is also a rather fine one to W. S. Sanders, Rector of St Nicholas, Guildford, 1901, and two in Westminster Abbey.

But so far no really fine example showing the figures in modern dress has been laid down. In the author’s opinion, it is to be hoped that the art of enamelling brasses will not be restored to favour at the same time. Nor does he consider that the engraved lines should be filled in with coloured matter or black wax.

In conclusion; if even a few, by reading this little book, are persuaded to study and help to preserve the ancient relics of the past, the author will feel that it has not been written in vain.

There is undoubtedly a decided awakening of interest in the subject, but it behoves us to exert ourselves to make all realize how priceless are the four thousand which alone survive out of the large number (some 150,000, including inscriptions) which were at one time or another laid down.

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This index is meant as a guide to the most interesting brasses in each county. At the same time, though it includes all mentioned in this manual, it does not profess to be exhaustive. Where there are several brasses at one church the author has often only given one or two, knowing that when there the brass-rubber will look round for others.